Perhaps the most revolutionary thing about the American Revolution was the colonists’ conviction that all people are born with inalienable rights that came from God or from nature, and not from government. Their rights were theirs by virtue of their humanity, and these natural rights included freedom of belief. This meant that religious toleration—the official indulgence given by governments to religious minorities to exercise their faith—would give way to religious liberty in the United States.

“There is not a single instance in history in which civil liberty was lost, and religious liberty preserved entire.” As your partners in civic education, we hope these materials will be valuable to you as you help prepare young people for citizenship, to understand their rights and liberties, and to appreciate their part to play in the American experiment in religious liberty.